The five most intriguing players for PSU during bowl prep

Penn State's Tommy Stevens rushes for a touchdown in the first half of an NCAA college football game against Maryland in College Park, Md., Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Penn State running back Miles Sanders, left, is tackled by Northwestern linebacker Nate Hall during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Evanston, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley, left, celebrates with offensive lineman Ryan Bates during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017. Penn State won 31-7. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Penn State’s Manny Bowen (43) celebrates after a sack against Michigan during the second half of an NCAA college football game in State College, Pa., Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017. Penn State won 42-13. (AP Photo/Chris Knight)

BY DONNIE COLLINS
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Published: December 1, 2017

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They call them bowl practices, the 10 to 15 sessions bowl-eligible college football teams squeeze in between the end of the regular season and their year-ending trip to warmer climes. But, that is probably a bit of a misnomer.

Bowl practices, after all, are less about bowls these days than they are about the next regular season, and the one after that. Penn State, for example, is among the majority of teams that use those opportunities to prepare for the future, to secure quality practice time for underclassmen who didn’t play much over the past four months, and ones who will be expected to battle for jobs in the spring.

While there seems to be little question who will line up for Penn State come late December or early January, there is still plenty of intrigue surrounding the program over the next few weeks.

Here are five players under the biggest microscope as winter dawns:

■OT Ryan Bates

Bates was a good enough left tackle for Penn State that he earned consensus third-team all-Big Ten honors despite missing most of the last month with a leg injury. But it was more than a little eye-opening that, when he finally returned to the field in a limited role last weekend against Maryland, he did so at right tackle.

There are a few logical reasons this could have happened on a temporary basis only because of his injury. But, here’s a more plausible theory: In Bates’ absence, freshman Will Fries has developed pretty quickly at left tackle, and the 6-foot-6 Fries is a more prototypical tackle than the 6-foot-4 Bates.

Even though four starters return on the offensive line next season, it seems as though only Fries and center Connor McGovern have starting spots pretty much assured. Bates will be the third, but it might depend on how he takes to the right tackle spot, assuming he sticks there leading up to the bowl game. If he doesn’t, it creates another set of questions: Will right tackle continue to be a weaker spot? Who emerges from what is likely to be a crazy race for start time at the guard spots between Bates, starter Steven Gonzalez and highly touted youngsters Michal Menet and C.J. Thorpe?

■ LB Manny Bowen

Bowen hasn’t been around the team since being suspended for the second time since the Rose Bowl for an undisclosed violation of team rules and missing the final three games of the season. He has now missed four games in a calendar year for breaking team policy.

Head coach James Franklin hasn’t commented on Bowen’s long-term future, but it’s obvious he was a big part of Penn State’s longer-term plans on defense. With Jason Cabinda and Brandon Smith getting ready for their last games, the Nittany Lions will head into 2018 with a gaping hole at middle linebacker, one Bowen might have been a top candidate to fill as a senior.

If he’s not in the mix, the pickings are slim. Jake Cooper is a veteran, but he hasn’t been used much. Teammates rave about true freshman Ellis Brooks, but that’s a difficult spot for a young player to assume. The other candidate Franklin has mentioned is a walk-on, Jan Johnson. Bowen’s status, therefore, will be a big topic of conversation.

■ RB Miles Sanders

Sanders is the heir apparent to Saquon Barkley, and he has been running well lately. That’s why he’ll be interesting to watch this month.

Barkley has said he’s going to play in the bowl game no matter what, but things can change on that front. If he doesn’t, it will mean an increased workload and more rapid development for the one-time top running back recruit in the nation who seems to be on the cusp of becoming something special. If there’s one Penn State player who can single-handedly raise expectations for the 2018 Nittany Lions in the bowl game, it’s Sanders.

■ QB Tommy Stevens

He’s on the verge of either leaving Penn State or becoming a Penn State legend, and it’s not clear which.

The so-called “Tommy Stevens package” has been nearly impossible for opponents to stop, and Maryland was powerless against him in the season finale. But he was mysteriously absent from the game plan against Penn State’s more formidable opponents.

He is on pace to graduate after the spring semester, which means he can leave the program, join another in the FBS as a graduate transfer, and play immediately with two seasons of eligibility. But while it seems certain he won’t take the starting job from Trace McSorley next season, it appears just as likely that the supposed best avenue out of town isn’t a really good one at all. His former offensive coordinator, Joe Moorhead, took over a Mississippi State program with an established veteran (junior Nick Fitzgerald) and a dynamic freshman (Keytaon Thompson) at quarterback.

■ SAF Jonathan Sutherland

Penn State is going to have to replace all four starters in the secondary in 2018, but they’ll be fine at cornerback, where Amani Oruwariye, Lamont Wade and Tariq Castro-Fields all return.

Safety is a different story. There just aren’t many experienced options to step in for Marcus Allen and Troy Apke next season, and if there’s one youngster who can step in and become a dynamic contributor, the players believe it is Sutherland, who Allen says hits like a train.

Contact the writer:

dcollins@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100, x5368

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